Planet Laurel

As mentioned, I did not come up with the name, and one name change is more than enough, thanks.

Every day that goes by more Canadians understand why we need Proportional Representation. I’m inclined to suspect Mr. Trudeau was in such a hurry to pull the plug because LPC’s own research shows Proportional Representation would prevail in a referendum that was at all fair.

Using the faulty phrase “ranked ballot” when what you mean the winner-take-all Alternative Vote (AV) system is unhelpful, and simply suggests your purpose is to confuse rather than illuminate. Electoral reform to a system worse than First Past The Post is not worth saving, as the UK AV-FPTP referendum demonstrated.

Although the NDP may succumb to the temptation of the One Ring when they find themselves in a majority government, (as we have seen happen with Liberal and Conservative governments before them) the rank and file understand the point of proportionality, better, perhaps, than supporters of the others. This renders the idea that party will ever support Alternative Vote inconceivable for the foreseeable future. That’s the thing about Proportional Representation: once citizens disfranchised by winner-take-all electoral systems understand PR, we support it.

Come up with a better name – It sounds like Nathan who is breaking the promises…

I am disappointed that the NDP sided with the Conservatives in calling for a referendum – which the Conservatives want knowing that a referendum is unlikely to pass…

I support a ranked ballot – the only way to save electoral reform is for the NDP to compromise and support ranked ballot either for use in 2019, or else to pass it now for 2023 so as to avoid the ethical issue of incumbent politicians voting on the system which might help or hurt their ow interests

Much to everyone’s surprise, the Conservative Party gave up its unswerving support of the status quo in support of Proportional Representation. Much to everyone’s surprise, the NDP gave up support of its favourite system (Mixed-member Proportional) in order to achieve consensus. Apparently you weren’t paying attention, Mr. Bott, because the Opposition Parties came to consensus.

Even the Bloc came to realize that, even though it fared better than the Greens, even though it more than doubled its seat count in 2015 spite of a serious decrease in the votes they earned, Proportional Representation would have given them even more seats because the votes cast in their favour merited more seats. Even the Greens bent on the referendum question.

The only party that does not want to live up to the 2015 Liberal election promise is the Liberal Party now that it holds a phony majority in Parliament.

None of the Opposition Parties ruled out Proportional systems using a ranked ballot option. You may remember a majority of BC voters (58%) voted to adopt Single Transferable Vote in the first BC Electoral Reform Referendum. BC-STV certainly uses a ranked ballot.

I am guessing that wasn’t what you meant; I’m guessing you were referring to the winner-take-all Alternative Vote option supported by Prime Minister Trudeau. I understand the LPC made some effort to rebrand it as “Preferential Voting,” “Preferential Ballot,” and then “ranked ballot” Just so you know, no one — including the Liberals — on the ERRE Committee entertained the Alternative Vote system under any of its aliases, for the simple fact that the system was so thoroughly discounted by a preponderance of expert testimony.

The reality is the one person too inflexible to make this work — because he would not entertain any but his own deeply flawed preferred system — was the Prime Minister. His intransigence triggered his intemperate decision to usurp the democratic rights of the electorate by unilaterally pulling the plug on the Electoral Consultation Process — a process that arose from the grass roots and received overwhelming support from his own Liberal Party — because it failed to deliver the answer he wanted.

Well over 100,000 Canadians signed the parliamentary e-616 petition, nation wide rallies and protests are being held across Canada. Far from being “dead,” Canadian electoral reform is teetering on the tipping point.

There is still time for Mr. Trudeau to make this right. Just.

Give it up Nathan. Electoral reform is dead. The opposition parties were to inflexible to make this work. Both had there preferred system and would not entertain a ranked ballot option

Nathan Cullen’s Broken Promise Tour

The ERRE Committee’s Nathan Cullen (NDP) will be crossing Canada making stops in Liberal ridings to demonstrate how much support there actually is for electoral reform! There’s one last vote on electoral reform in Parliament before the May deadline. After that, it could be too late to set up a new voting system in time for the next election. This spring, MPs will vote on whether to accept the…

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